Chinese retailer eyes GNC

By Michael Johnsen

PITTSBURGH — Chinese retailer Bright Food Group is looking to potentially grow its portfolio with the acquisition of specialty retailer GNC, according to several reports.

The Bright Food Group acquisition would be backed by Hony Capital, one of China’s biggest buyout firms. What's more, the global buyout firm the Blackstone Group is expected to join Hony in backing Bright Food Group’s potential GNC bid, published reports have noted.

Bright Food Group operates more than 3,300 retailing outlets in Shanghai and other provinces, including NGS Supermarket, Shanghai First Provisions Store and Guangmin convenience stores, among others. Among Bright Food’s distributor partners are the Coca-Cola Co., Pepsi, Nestle and Danone.